9.Pre – Devotion

Some people think if you do good things, you should get good things, and if you do bad things, you should get bad things. In some cases, this is true. People who break rules receive consequences. People who achieve impressive things receive awards. At first glance, this seems fair. We want to be rewarded for the good things we do. We know that consequences are necessary in response to harmful behavior.

In the story of Joseph, many people sin and many get hurt as a result. Based on all the sins and wrongdoing going on, our first reaction might be to think Joseph and his family deserved to be punished. Thankfully, God doesn’t listen to our first reactions. Despite the sin that Joseph and his brothers committed, God was still doing good things for their family, and ultimately for the whole world!  God blessed Joseph’s family by making them ancestors of Jesus, who was a descendant of Joseph’s brother Judah. Joseph and his brothers didn’t deserve any of the blessings that God gave them, but God still blessed them beyond their imagination.

Like Joseph and his family, we are also sinful people. We hurt our friends and family through our sinful words and actions. We don’t deserve God’s love or forgiveness. But God loves us anyway. He forgives us through the death of His Son, Jesus. He also blesses our lives, just like He blessed the lives of Jacob’s family. Things that we might see as coincidences or accidents really aren’t those things at all—they are God working in our lives for our good. Even though we are sinful, God will always love us, always forgive us, and always bless us.

1. What are some ways that God blesses you?
2. How did God bless Joseph and his family?
3. Why does God bless us even though we sin?

Let’s pray: